Halley Project

Halley's Comet was discovered by Edmund Halley. It was later named after Edmund because of his predictions on when the comet would appear next. Edmund used Newton's newly laws of motion. Using that he calculated Halley's orbit and saw that the comet would be seen in 1531 and 1607. Sadly though, Edmund Halley died before he can see Halley again. Halley's orbital period was said to be around 76-79.5 years. The next time we would see Halley is 2061. Only one of our spacecrafts called "Glotto" took close photographs of the comet.

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"Halley's" Comet has been orbiting for thousands of years. It is not known when exactly it appeared in our solar system. "Halley's" Comet is one of the most well known comets throughout history. This comet was named after Edmund Halley, not because he discovered it, but because he was able to predict its return in December of 1758, which was after his death. However, the comet was seen by many before this time. Proof of this comet exists as far back as 239 B.C.. Evidence of this comet was shown on the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Battle of Hasting in 1066. "Halley's" Comet has been visited by space crafts from Japan, Europe, and Russia. The comet, with the aid of Edmund Halley, has become a significant historical and scientific (astronomical) figure, that can be described in many ways.

Halley is perhaps the most famous comet in history. Halley is proven correct by Edmund Halley's predictions and it would reappear. Halley is responsible for depositing the debris that, when falling through the Earth's atmosphere, causes the Orionid meteor showers. Halley's comet is about in fact the same age as the sun, 4.5 billion years old. It is located at the outer solar system, Kuipler's belt. Lastly, it has a highly elongated orbit that takes it very close to the Sun and then flings it out into the solar system, and passes the orbit of Pluto.

Halley's Comet

The comet did not appear during the time of Jesus(11 B.C.& 66B.C.) there was 1 sighting before his birth and 1 after his death. Halley's comet is large and active, well-defined and has a regular orbit.

A comet is an icy body that releases ice and dust. Halley's Comet has a long, oval orbit around sun, solid core with surrounding cloudy atmosphere (coma), and one or two tails. A comet is visible without telescope, only when it passes near the sun.

The gas and dust of comas and tail(s) reflect sunlight; the gases release energy which causes the comet to glow. Halley's Comet is a short period comet (it has an orbit that takes less than 200 years to complete, about 74-79 years, actually). Kuiper Belt- Halley's Comet is located along this belt, and with the help of the outer planets it is pushed into the inner solar system, which creates active comets.

Halley's Comet was actually visited by 5 space crafts including crafts from the USSR, Japan, and Europe (Giotopo- March 14, 1986). Most comets are refered to as dirty snowballs or "icy mudballs" which do generally include a mix of ice (H2O & frozen gases)and dust.

Edmund Halley

Born 11-8-1656; Died 1-14-1742

Education: university of Oxford

He worked with Flamsteed, Newton (Halley encouraged him to print journals and books, and paid for the costs)(He also worked with Newton to publish Flamsteed's observations), Hevelius (Halley observed and verified results of Hevelius that other people doubted).

Achievements: map showing winds over oceans(1st metorological chart to be published); mortality tables (actuarial tables in life insurance); calculated 1682 comet to be the same as the ones of 1531 and 1607, and predicted the return in December of 1758(which was after his death); the coemt did return, and was then named after him: Halley's Comet; Magnetic Variation Theory, professor of geometry at Oxford, diving bell

He used Ptolemy's catalogue to determine that stars have thier own motion; he actually detected motion of 3 stars ("most notable achievement in stellar astronomy"). He also devised a method for determining longitude at sea by lunar observatons.

Halley used Newton's formulated laws of motion to figure out the motion of planets and stars.
Halley also had many lunar observations, worked with problems of gravity, and used Kepler's laws of planetary motion, He traveled to Cambridge to visit Newton for help figuring out a problem, which he discovered that Newton had already solved.